No. Having a professional agent is against NCAA rules (see NCAA rule 12.3.1 ‘Use of Agents’, available at www.ncaa.org) and having one could make you ineligible to compete in college sports. TitleIX USA does not provide services to professional athletes nor do we charge a fee based on the level or type of scholarship you receive, or indeed whether you receive a scholarship at all. TitleIX USA’s  fees are solely for the guidance and advice we provide in connection with the scholarship application process.

Many of our student-athletes decide to open a bank account in the USA. It can be useful for student-athletes who have attained a part-time job on campus and it can be helpful for those on paid internships to have a local bank to manage their money whilst in the USA. College and university staff are very helpful in aiding in this process for student-athletes.

A small number of our student-athletes seek part time work on a non-immigrant student visa. This form of visa (recommended) permits student-athletes to work strictly on campus. Student-athletes can also access off campus work through paid internships by applying through the University. With an internship visa student-athletes can work as an intern anywhere in the USA over the summer break, which runs from May through to August every year. One important stipulation is that the internship visa requires that the paid work must be directly related to the student-athlete’s areas of study. How much employment each student athlete undertakes on or off campus is a decision based on balance between sport and study commitments. For some families, this extra income can help offset costs not covered by scholarship.

TitleIX USA will assess and consult on your eligibility for receiving a sports scholarship, then guide you through the recruitment process with suitable American colleges and universities. We are not permitted to charge a fee for our services based on successfully placing clients at American colleges with suitable sports scholarships. As a result, we will not provide a refund where scholarships offered to clients were deemed ‘unsuitable’ by the client, or where scholarships are not offered at all. NCAA rules state, “A prospective student-athlete may allow a scouting service or agent to distribute personal information to member institutions without jeopardizing his or her eligibility, provided the fee paid to such an agent is not based on placing the prospective student-athlete in a collegiate institution as a recipient of institutional financial aid.” (see NCAA rule 12.3.3.1 ‘Talent Evaluation Services & Agents’, available at www.ncaa.org).

Getting injured is an unfortunate risk of being an athlete. Colleges in the USA know this and therefore commit to helping athletes rehabilitate.

Whilst rehabilitation is happening, student-athletes remain on scholarship, continuing their studies. In many cases, student-athletes will sit out or ‘redshirt’ a season of competition. This enables the athlete to continue towards graduation academically, but also access the missed season once their four years of eligibility has expired. Losing scholarship is very uncommon due to injury – the main causes are poor academic effort, poor behaviour or poor attitude towards athletic training.

Many scholarships include insurance. If the scholarship does not include insurance, we recommend that you have protection. US insurance costs about $500 -$1000 per annum, which covers sports related injury and non-sports related illness or injury. It’s best to research all of your options.

If you desire to pursue your sport professionally, going to college or university in the USA absolutely gives you every opportunity to do so. The facilities are second to none, the training schedule is as intense as you want it to be, and coaches are very supportive of athletes wishing to continue their sport beyond graduation.

You should expect that a ‘full’ or ‘100%’ scholarship would cover the cost of:

• Tuition
• Room
• Board
• Books
• Sports related clothing & equipment
• Team travel within the USA

Should you be successful in seeking a scholarship offer, it is highly likely that you will still be required to contribute towards your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th years’ costs at university in the US. As a result, it would be worthwhile to consider what, if any, level of financial contribution you could potentially afford to make towards any costs not covered within any scholarship. Remember, that scholarship contributions do not include flights, insurance and social spending.

This is a very common question, which has a simple answer – we can and will put you in contact with any college or university in the USA. We do not have special agreements or arrangements with specific institutions.

TitleIX USA’s fee is for the provision of assistance and consultancy services including, but not exclusive to, assessing and consulting on the academic & athletic eligibility of its clients and guiding them through the scholarship application process. We are not permitted to charge a fee for our services based on scholarship offers secured for our clients. As such, our fee is charged in advance of our services commencing. (See NCAA rule 12.3 Use of Agents’, available at www.ncaa.org)

The concept behind US sports scholarships is simple; it provides talented amateur sportsmen and women with an opportunity to pursue both an academic and athletic career simultaneously.

The benefit for the university is that they get a student-athlete who will help them achieve sporting success, which is of great value in the US. The universities call for students to maintain academic achievement alongside sporting achievement and typically require students to maintain at least an academic ‘C’ grade average during their scholarship.

The benefit to the student-athlete of attending a university in the US is gaining an education to degree level – wholly or partly paid for, life experience in the US, world-class coaching and the opportunity to experience the most competitive amateur sporting environment in the world.

Foreseeing the monetary value of the scholarship that could be offered to you is something that is almost impossible to do. In addition to academic results, SAT test scores, timing, available budgets, and the coaches’ perspective upon an individual’s sporting ability (the college coach is the only one who could say to a prospective student athlete that they will receive ‘a full scholarship’) all have an impact. TitleIX USA cannot and do not guarantee the ultimate level of scholarship awards made to our clients.